1,400 sit for Law School entrance exams

A last-minute effort by a group of lawyers to stop the exams was unsuccessful

A total of 1,424 graduates from various tertiary institutions across the country seeking to enter the Ghana School of Law sat for the entrance exams at the University of Ghana today.

A last-minute effort by a group of lawyers to stop the exams through a court injunction was unsuccessful.

The lawyers went to court late Thursday, July 13 after an earlier court ruling dismissing a similar application by some law graduates. The unsuccessful attempts meant that the students had to sit for the exam scheduled for Friday July 14, 2017.

The students initiated the action following a Supreme Court judgment describing as unconstitutional entrance examinations and interviews administered by the General Legal Council to students seeking to pursue professional legal education in the country.

However, the court permitted this year’s exam to be held and the ruling implemented from 2018.

But the verdict was not welcomed by the students who felt once it had been declared as unconstitutional this year’s exam should not hold.

Leader of the graduates Ken Donkor told Class News that most of them were not ready for the exams, however the exam came off.

Nana Osei Bonsu, Registrar of the University of Ghana Law School who supervised the entrance exams earlier, told Class News the 1424 candidates were taking the two hour paper which began at 10am and was expected to end by midday.

“The Supreme Court said if no new laws are made then next year there will be no examination, so that is where we are taking it from. This year the process is on, there is examination to be followed by an interview and a list will be selected based on the capacity of the school,” he said.

He added that the total number of qualified students who will enter the law school is yet to be determined by the General Legal Council based on facilities and number of personnel available.